Huge spend urged on African water

Arica's water systems need annual investments of about $20bn over the next two decades, a United Nations report has concluded.

The African Development Bank (ADB) says that only 3.8% of the continent's water resources are developed.

About 300 million Africans lack access to safe drinking water, and the ADB says money also needs to be spent on irrigation and hydropower.

Full story BBC 20 March 2006.

Dirty water 'kills 1.5m children'

More than 1.5m children under five die each year because they lack access to safe water and proper sanitation, says the United Nations children's agency.

In a report, Unicef says that despite some successes, a billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water from protected sources.

More than 1.2 billion people have gained access to safe water since 1990.

But sub-Saharan Africa remains a major area of concern, especially countries affected by conflict.

A Unicef deputy-director, Vanessa Tobin, gave the example of Niger, where only 13% of the population has access to toilets of an acceptable standard, or better.

She said it "certainly is a contributing factor in the cholera outbreaks" in Niger.

Full story BBC 28 Sep 2006.

DARFUR/CHAD/MDJT rebels: Armed assailants attack convoy in northern Niger

NIAMEY, Aug 11 (Reuters) - hat tip Coalition for Darfur:

One soldier was killed and another abducted in northern Niger when armed men attacked and robbed a goods convoy being escorted by the army near the desert town of Agadez, military sources said on Friday.

The region around the ancient trading town, some 1,700 km (1,000 miles) north of the capital Niamey, was the centre of an uprising by Tuareg nomads in the 1990s and remains notorious for banditry and smuggling.

Local radio, however, reported the assailants were rebels from neighbouring Chad. Military sources declined to speculate.

"We have begun a pursuit and we prefer to remain cautious about the nationality of the attackers," said one army source, who asked not to be identified.

The attackers seized five vehicles containing cigarettes bound for Libya, the main market for tobacco in the region.

The lawless expanse of northern Niger -- which borders Chad, Libya and Algeria -- has also become a haven in recent years for Algerian rebels.

N'Djamena signed a peace deal last year with the Movement for Democracy and Justice in Chad (MDJT) rebel movement to end its uprising in northern Chad, which had spilled over the border into Niger.

Other rebel groups dedicated to toppling Chadian President Idriss Deby continue to operate in the country's east, using the Sudanese region of Darfur as an operating base.

These rebel groups launched a foiled assault on N'Djamena in April, which killed hundreds of people just weeks before polls which handed Deby a new five-year term.

Oxfam: Africa famine response 'too little, too late'

Reuters report by Andrew Cawthorne via Mail & Guardian 24 July 2006:

Food emergencies in Africa are occurring three times more often now than in the mid-1980s, but the global response to famine continues to be "too little, too late", the international aid agency Oxfam said on Monday.

Conflict, HIV/Aids and climate change are all exacerbating food shortages for sub-Saharan Africa's 750-million people, with innovative solutions and massive long-term support needed to break the cycle, the British-based group added in a new report.

"It will cost the world far less to make a major investment now in tackling root causes of hunger than continuing the current cycle of too little, too late that has been the reality of famine relief in Africa for nearly half a century," Oxfam Britain's director Barbara Stocking said.

Billions of dollars of aid have been pumped into sub-Saharan Africa in recent decades, and its problems have received unprecedented international attention of late from grassroots campaigners and world leaders like Britain's Tony Blair.

But despite that, a "myopic, short-term" focus has prevailed, with emergency food aid still dominating international action on Africa, rather than long-term support of agriculture, infrastructure and social safety nets, Oxfam said.

It cited this year's drought in East Africa, where up to 11-million people still require urgent assistance, and renewed food insecurity in Niger, where at least one-million people are vulnerable in coming months, as evidence of ongoing crisis.

A third of Africans are under-nourished, Oxfam said, while the number of food emergencies has nearly tripled in 20 years. Nearly half of Africans live on less than a dollar a day.

"MORALLY UNACCEPTABLE"

Conflicts cause more than half of food crises, Oxfam said, citing violence in north Uganda and Sudan's Darfur region.

"Darfur, where 3,4-million people are dependent on food aid, is a classic example of the devastating humanitarian emergency that conflict creates," it said.

The HIV/Aids epidemic is taking "a terrifying toll" on one of the continent's key resources for food production -- its people. Oxfam said a fifth of the agricultural workforce in Southern African countries will have died from HIV/Aids by 2020.

And climate change is "wreaking havoc on the livelihoods of small landholders and nomadic pastoralist", the agency added, citing research that 55-65 million more Africans could be at risk of hunger by the 2080s because of temperature rises.

"The story of nearly half a century of attempts at sophisticated and sustainable solutions to hunger in Africa is not a happy one," added the Oxfam report, "Causing Hunger".

As well as supporting long-term projects, Oxfam said real solutions to Africa's food crisis should include:
Buying aid from developing countries. "Most food aid is still imported, meaning it can take up to 5 months to deliver and cost up to 50% more than food purchased locally."
Money-based schemes such as food vouchers, cash-for-work programmes or direct cash transfers.
Increased foreign aid for agriculture, which in fact dropped 43% in the decade to 2002.
More local funds for agriculture, with governments honouring a 2003 African Union pledge to increase spending on the sector to 10% of budgets.

"For people to be hungry in Africa in the 21st century is neither inevitable nor morally acceptable," Oxfam said.

"The world's emergency response requires an overhaul ... the stop-start approach must give way to longer-term support."

Pictures of the $100 laptop: 1st working model of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

From May 23, 2006 blog entry by Pablo Halkyard at PSD blog - The World Bank Group:

Pictures from the unveiling of the first working prototype of the $100 Laptop at the Seven Countries Task Force today. Green became orange, and the hand-crank is gone. Compare with Intel's sub-$400 entry and AMD's $185 version.

Note, at the entry a techie commented: "Awesome. I want one. What is there to stop gringos from buying them all to have their recipes on the kitchen or to use as poolside or beach laptop?"

Click here to learn about One Laptop per Child and view pictures of original green prototype with hand crank.



Photo: 1st working model (OLPC) - taken at 11:45 AM on May 23, 2006; cameraphone upload by ShoZu - Uploaded to flickr by Pete Barr-Watson

Bird flu now found in Burkina Faso

On April 4, 2006 Keith noted Bird flu now found in Burkina Faso - the 5th African country to confirm the presence of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

Niger begins cull weeks after finding bird flu

Niger began culling poultry on Sunday, more than a month after it first discovered an outbreak of deadly avian flu near its southern border with Nigeria.

Full story Reuters 9 Apr 2006.

Niger to block foreign press reporting food crisis - What's up with Mr Tandja?

Today, Reuters says Niger's government denied it had stripped the journalists of their accreditation, saying it had summoned them to explain that their coverage was one-sided and did not present the country's efforts to solve its problems:

"We did not expel the BBC. We summoned the team to say their report had caused shock and Niger is more than just recurring food shortages," said Fogue Aboubacar, secretary-general at the Culture, Arts and Communication Ministry.

"Niger is also about the authorities attempts to solve these problems and one must stop focusing on the negative side," he added. "That is what happened in 2005 and we are not going to tolerate it, especially as harvests have been good."

"Be it the BBC, CNN or any other media, we will not hand out more accreditation on the food situation," he said.

Full report.
- - -

Committee to Protect Journalists

SPJ News Alert - excerpt: CPJ sources said that government officials insisted that the BBC team had been granted visas to cover bird flu and that they had exceeded their authorization. Government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar told Radio France Internationale today that any journalist was free to come to Niger but that "telling stories that are not true is another matter." CPJ attempts to get further comment from the government were unsuccessful.
- - -

What's up with Mr Tandja?

Ali at The Salon writes What's up with Mr. Tandja? and asks "Does someone understand this better than I do?"

I have left a comment at Ali's post, providing a link to a post here at Niger Watch. Last year, I used this blog to monitor reports on Niger's alleged famine. Sorry, right now I am unable to spend more time blogging but if you are interested in getting an insight into why Niger is blocking the press from reporting on Niger's food market, please scroll through each month of archives here in the sidebar, particularly August and September of last year. There are not a great deal of posts within each month, just glancing through the titles will give you an idea of why Niger's Government says it is against the media "telling stories that are not true" - and make up your own mind as to why Niger is being proactive this year in its handling of the media. I'll try write more on this when able at a later date, right now I am upkeeping several blogs and it is time consuming tracking and reading daily news reports on the Sudan, Uganda, DRC, Ethiopia and Niger.

Niger halts BBC hunger coverage

Niger has withdrawn permission for a BBC team which found evidence of hunger in the country to continue to report on the humanitarian situation there, BBC reported 3 April 2006. Excerpt:

Officials said international and local media would not be allowed to do stories about the food situation as they did not want that subject touched. Hunger and malnutrition are recurrent problems in Niger, which is the poorest country in the world.

Last week the United Nations included Niger in a major fundraising appeal. Officials said they they did not want foreign or local media to report about food supplies or malnutrition. The officials also criticised aid agencies without naming names, claiming that some of the funds raised for Niger last year did not reach their destination.

LIBERIA-NIGERIA-SIERRA LEONE: Handcuffed Taylor deposited at war crimes court

IRIN report Mar 29, 2006 - excerpt:

UN peacekeepers delivered handcuffed former Liberian president Charles Taylor into the custody of a UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone on Wednesday where he will be the first former African head of state to face prosecution for war crimes before an international tribunal.

A UN helicopter brought Taylor from the Liberian capital Monrovia directly to the landing pad of the Special Court in Freetown where officials whisked him directly to his waiting cell.

Nigerian police captured Taylor, who is indicted on 17 counts of war crimes, on Tuesday after he disappeared from the mansion where he was living in exile in the south of the country.

Taylor was detained Tuesday night in Borno state in northeastern Nigeria, Information Minister Frank Nweke told reporters. Authorities immediately informed Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo who is on a visit to the United States and the Nigerian leader ordered Taylor's immediate deportation to Liberia.

"Taylor was received as soon as he landed and the UNMIL peacekeepers read him his rights and he was handcuffed by peacekeepers," Liberia's chief prosecutor, Tiaon Gongloe told reporters after Taylor's departure in a white UN helicopter.

A UN Security Council resolution late last year mandated UN peacekeepers in Liberia "to apprehend and detain former president Charles Taylor" in the event of his return to Liberian territory and depose him with the Special Court in Sierra Leone.

6 Niger soldiers up for mutiny

A military tribunal in Niger has convicted six soldiers for their role in a 2002 mutiny, but has acquitted 57 co-defendants, say legal sources.

Soldiers mutinied in Niamey on the night of August 4-5th 2002, in support of a 10-day mutiny by comrades demanding better pay and conditions hundreds of kilometres away in Diffa, near the border with Nigeria.

A military tribunal in Kollo, just outside Niamey, tried 63 soldiers for acts harmful to state security, insurrection and rebellion.

Full report (News 24 SA) 10 March 2006.

The 21st century's most explosive commodity will be . . . WATER

There's plenty of it to meet the world's needs but too much of our supply is in the wrong places says a report at thebusinessonline.com by Allister Heath 5 March 2006, copied here in full for future reference:

WHISKY is for drinking, water is for fighting over - or so Mark Twain once remarked. He was right. Water has played a central, albeit usually overlooked, role in conflicts throughout human history, far more so even than oil; and many of the wars of the 21st century will be fought over the clear, cool stuff.

During the past 50 years alone, there have been 507 conflicts pitting country against country, and 21 instances of actual hostilities, as a result of disagreements over water. All of which puts in perspective the row in the UK over last week's decision to allow water companies to impose metering to force water consumers to face the true costs of their water consumption - it even makes the looming drought and hosepipe bans in the South of England almost bearable in comparison.

Water historian Peter Gleick, director of worldwater.org and the author of a unique chronology of water wars, has discovered a huge history of conflicts and tensions over water resources, the use of water systems as weapons during war, and the targeting of water systems during conflicts. The earliest known example dates back to 3,000 BC. Well before the remarkably similar accounts of the Great Flood to be found in the Bible, ancient Sumerian legend tells the tale of the deity Ea, who punished humanity for its sins with a devastating six-day storm.

There have been hundreds more instances of water wars across the ages, involving just about everybody from Nebuchadnezzar to Louis XIV and famous military operations such as the Dam Busters during the second world war. In 1503, Leonardo da Vinci and Machievelli planned to divert the Arno River away from Pisa during hostilities between Pisa and Florence. Astonishingly, Arizona and California almost went to war in 1935 over the construction of the Parker Dam and diversions from the Colorado River.

In the late 1970s, Ethiopia's wish to build dams on the headwaters of the Blue Nile led to a furious reaction from Egypt. "The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water," said Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, the Egyptian president later assassinated. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, an Egyptian diplomat who became UN secretary-general, said in 1988: "The next war in our region will be over the waters of the Nile, not politics."

During the past 15 years, there have been armed conflicts over water in Bangladesh, Tadjikistan, Malaysia, Yugoslavia, Angloal, East Timor, Namibia, Bostwana, Zambia, Ecuador and Peru. Several terrorist groups have threatened to poison water systems and water distribution has been regularly targeted in Iraq.

The fundamental problem is that access rights to water are often badly defined. Unlike with other commodities, the institutions of modern capitalism property rights, private companies, free market prices - have rarely been applied to water, and especially not to water flows that cross different countries. The result is that countries all too often use non-commercial methods to arrange their water supplies - such as finders-keepers, war or diplomatic deals.

Individual water molecules cannot be owned or subjected to property rights. But rules and agreements about who can use water and in what way, or who can have access to or the right to divert rivers, lakes or underground reserves, need to be found. And the best rules for all goods and services, including the most precious of commodities, are the rules of the market. Water and river rights could easily be traded.

At the moment, however, rational ways of allocating water are sorely missing. "Few agreements have been reached about how the water should be shared; most of those agreements are seen as un-just: upstream countries believe they should control the flow of the rivers, taking what they like, if they can get away with it. Downstream, where the states are often more advanced and militarily stronger ,they have always challenged this assumption, like Egypt and Israel. It is a recipe for confrontation," according to Adel Darwish, co-author of Water Wars: Coming Conflicts in the Middle East with John Bulloch.

Countries such as Egypt, Hungary, Botswana, Cambodia and Syria all derive more than 75% of their water from rivers that flow though other countries first. In the same way that oil and gas pipelines that go through hostile countries can be siphoned off or blown up to cut supplies to rival countries, water flows can be diverted with devastating effect.

"Particularly tricky are cases where one river, or river system, provides water to many nations, some of which may be steadfast political or ideological opponents. But there can be conflicts even between countries with otherwise excellent relations if they have the same watercourse as their principal source of water supply. If one country starts emptying the river, less will be left over for the countries downstream," says Frederik Segerfeldt, senior adviser to the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.

At last count, there were 263 river basins shared by two or more countries and these were home to roughly 40% of the global population, according to Unesco. In most cases, the institutions needed to regulate how water resources should be used are either weak or missing altogether.

One particular area of contention is the Jordan River basin, which is divided between Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Israel. Its supply of water is critical to Palestine, Israel and Jordan, and very important to Lebanon and Syria. The problem, each time, is who owns the water, how the water should be shared out between different countries and under what conditions.

Partly as a result, water has also played a critical but much under-reported role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and other wars in the region. The six-day war, which pitted Syria, Jordan and Egypt against Israel, had partly to do with a disagreement over water. One of the reasons why Israel has been reluctant to pull out of the Golan Heights and the West Bank is because it feared losing control of water flows and handing over control of them to hostile forces.

The absence of proper property rights in water also fuels tensions within countries, pitting town against town or region against region. There is a growing number of disagreements about who can or cannot use water from a particular source in the US. "From Montana to Michigan, from septic systems to centre-pivots, we wage war over water - its cleanliness, its availability, its highest use, its commodification, its spiritual essence. And as history proceeds from the settling of the prairies to the sprawling of suburbs, the struggles are becoming increasingly intense," says Douglas Clement of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

The answer, many economists believe, is to move towards a system of international tradeable water rights, recognised by the courts. Companies could buy and sell rights to water use, both within countries and internationally; all subsidised water for farmers and industry would be halted and all consumers would pay competitive prices, with the poor looked after. Water companies would be broken up and privatised; government-imposed barriers to competition would be lifted. Polluters would be faced with strict liability rules and would have to pay for cleaning up rivers, lakes or underground reserves.

The introduction of market forces would be especially positive for poor countries. Even in areas of the world without water wars, a horrendously large number of people are short of good quality, clean, drinking water and sanitation. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that more than 2bn people are affected by water shortages in more than 40 countries: 1.1bn do not have enough drinking water and 2.4bn have no provision for sanitation. This has led to disease, lack of food security and much conflict. An estimated 25,000 people are still dying every day from malnutrition and 6,000 people, mostly children under the age of five, are dying from water-related diseases, according to the UN. This is a tragedy in urgent need of attention from the world, especially rich countries. But despite repeated statements of intent from international bodies such as the UN, little has been done.

So why so many conflicts and so much misery? Taking a global perspective, the problem is not that there this is too little water; in fact water is extraordinarily plentiful, a perfectly renewable resource that can be used over and over again. Instead, the challenge is getting the water to the right places and the right people; the issue is one of the misallocation of a scarce resource and is thus economic and political in nature, not physical or scientific.

A physical water shortage is mainly confined to countries of the Arab world, a few countries or regions in south and south-east Asia and parts of Australia. But there is economic water scarcity in much of the developing world. "The problem is not the amount of water available but the inability to produce and distribute safe water," says Segerfeldt, author of Water for Sale, published by the Cato Institute in Washington.

About two-thirds of the earth's surface is made up of water; if one strips out sea water, which of course can quite easily be turned into drinking water with the help of desalination plants, one is still left with 2.3m litres per person.

There is also plenty of rain: each year, 113,000 cubic kilometres showers down on the earth. Much of it evaporates but we are left with 19,000 litres a day per person. The global economy consumes only about 1,300 litres per person a day, 6.8% of the daily rainfall. The United Nations does the sums differently and finds that we use about 8% of the available water every year - but of course, unlike oil, which can only be used once, this water can endlessly be recycled.

Moving control of water distribution and sanitation services in developing countries out of the public sector and into the hands of private companies and a competitive market is the only realistic way to ensure that more people have access to clean and safe water, many economists believe.

"Water crises need not occur if individuals are allowed to respond to scarcity through market processes," says the Political Economy Research Center, an environmental think-tank in Montana. Forecasts of imminent natural resource shortages are often wrong because they ignore the impact of market forces on supply and demand, say Terry Anderson and Pamela Snyder, economists at the centre.

Higher prices induce suppliers to find new sources of supply and users to conserve and search for substitutes - and it would be the same for water were it subject to market forces globally. If governments send the wrong signals to suppliers and users by subsidising water storage and delivery, exponential growth in consumption will inevitably run into environmental and fiscal constraints. But if progress towards greater reliance on markets continues, water supplies and efficiency will increase as users trade with one another, and consumption will be tamed by higher prices. But numerous charities and lobby groups disagree.

They fear that the poor will not be able to afford water in a free market and claim that because it is essential to human life it should be free. But food, which is also a crucial requirement, is not free, and those countries that have tried going down that road have suffered catastrophe. Worst of all, the public sector is already failing to supply poor people with water: 22 people around the world are dying every minute because they are unable to get enough clean water from state-owned distributors.

By contrast, the overwhelming evidence from those countries or cities that have experimented with privatisation is that it has been a great success. The cost of obtaining water actually falls when the poor are connected to a water network: in Laos, water from street salesmen costs 136 times more than water from the official network; in Indonesia, the difference is as much as 489 times.

Access to clean water has increased following privatisation in every poor country that has tried it properly. In Tunja, Colombia, access rose by 10% following privatisation; in Gabon the figure was almost 15%. Cartagena, Colombia, posted access increases of 26%, Conakry, Guinea, of 24% and in La Paz and El Alto, Bolivia, of 10%. In Chile, 99% of urban residents, as well as 94% of rural residents, are now supplied with water all day round, which contrasts favourably with pre-privatisation figures of 63% and 27% respectively. Corrientes, Argentina, and Cote d'Ivoire saw increases of almost 15%.

Mischa Balen, a former researcher for UK Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks, is the author of a pro-privatisation book to be published on World Water Day on 22 March by the Globalisation Institute. "Government provision in water has overseen millions of deaths through lack of sanitation and unsafe water. Bringing in private sector expertise and investment is needed, both to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals, but to actively contribute towards social justice the world over. In the vast majority of cases, where the private sector has been called upon, it has delivered the goods - even in cases decried by critics as 'failures'," Balen argues.

While the UK water industry is no poster child for privatisation, it has nevertheless shown the potential of harnessing market forces. The 1990 privatisation of the industry was in fact limited and the market remains highly regulated. The industry is not free to set the prices it wants and competition is restricted. Anyone who lives in the UK will have plenty of anecdotes about the incompetence or poor service of their local water company.

But the industry has successfully invested about £50bn since privatisation and water prices have gone up by less than inflation. Leaks, which still remain high, are down 30% and will fall further over the next four years. Instead of being able to concentrate on the leaks, the industry was forced by European Union directives to improve water purity first, to levels that some analysts believe were unnecessarily high.

The move to allow companies to impose metering on their customers and hence to enable them to charge for water usages, rather than merely a flat fee, is expected to cut water consumption by 5% to 15% – and for many households in the South of England, bills have fallen after meters were introduced. But meters alone are not enough. "The issue is not a lack of water meters per se, but a lack of true market prices for water. We should treat water the same as any other good or service traded in our economy. When water becomes more scarce, a rising price acts as a signal to both consumers and companies that they need to modify their behaviour," says Kendra Okonski, of the International Policy Network.

As economist Terry Anderson once put it, when water is cheaper than dirt, it will be treated that way - and that is the great problem with water in the world today. Unless it is priced rationally and managed by markets, countries will continue to go to war over it and the poor continue to die from a lack of it.

Niger: New Cases of Bird Flu Suspected, Government Calls for Help to Fight H5N1

IRIN report March 3, 2006 via allAfrica.com:

New suspected cases of bird flu have emerged in three locations in Niger, days after the country became the third in Africa to be confirmed to be infected by the deadly H5N1 virus.

Dead birds have been found in the towns of Goure and Dogo - in the centre-south of the country near the border with infected states in Nigeria, and in N'Guigmi farther east, which also shares a border with Chad. Tissue samples from the three areas are on their way to the capital Niamey to be sent to a laboratory in Italy for testing.

The same lab on Tuesday announced that the bird flu virus was found in domestic ducks from Magaria, Niger, near the border with Nigeria, the first African country to be struck.

Government spokesperson Mohamed Ben Oumar told Radio France Internationale on Thursday that authorities plan to destroy poultry within a three-mile radius of infected areas, and put all birds in a 10-mile radius under "high medical surveillance."

Niger - among the world's poorest countries - has a plan to fight bird flu, but not the means. The government called on the international community this week to help, saying it needs essential equipment such as protective clothing including masks and boots, vaccines, disinfectant and diagnostic kits. The government says even the vehicles and refrigeration units it has available are not sufficient to handle the bird flu threat.

"Niger cannot cope alone, given the scale [of the problem] and the danger at hand - we are obliged to ask for help from the international community," Ben Oumar said.

The government statement said that in its budget for bird flu eradication it is planning to assist those who lose their livestock.

Niger had banned poultry products from countries infected with H5N1 late last year then ordered a total ban on poultry imports after the virus hit neighbouring Nigeria 8 February.

Niger Uranium Rumors Wouldn't Die (LA Times tries to support 'Joe the Liar')

See Free Republic 17 Feb 2006.

Poor compensation plans impeding bird flu fight in west Africa - Yahoo! News

Niger had pledged to pay 1,000 CFA francs (1.5 euros) per chicken in case of mass slaughter but poultry farmers say the sum is peanuts.

"It's largely inadequate and unfair. Any poultry expert will tell you that it costs at least 4,000 CFA francs (more than six euros) to raise a chicken until it starts bringing in profits," said Harouna Labo, one of Niger's largest poultry farmers.

A chicken seller in the Niger town of Maradi was more explicit.

"Whoever wants to kill my chickens has to do so over my dead body," said Almou Abdou.

Full story AFP at Yahoo News 23 Feb 2006.

Niger: Journalist freed after 18 days detention in libel case

CPJ News 21 Feb 2006:

The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of newspaper director Ibrahim Manzo, who spent 18 days in preventive detention awaiting the outcome of a defamation case. A court in Niamey, capital of Niger, handed Manzo a suspended one-month prison sentence on Monday and ordered his release, local journalists told CPJ.

Niger 'coup' trial of 70 soldiers

From the BBC 21 Feb 2006:

Seventy soldiers have gone on trial in Niger's capital, Niamey, for their alleged role in an attempted coup three years ago.

The soldiers are accused of being part of a group of mutinous troops who violently protested against their living conditions and unpaid wages

It escalated into a mutiny both in the capital and in the region of Diffa.

At one point a state governor and several senior army officers were kidnapped.

At least two civilians were reported to have been killed in the unrest that was finally quelled by troops loyal to the government.

The BBC's Idy Barou in Niger says if the military tribunal convicts the men they could face the death penalty.

France helps Niger test for bird flu

Niger's government launched its first ministerial missions into rural areas this weekend to educate people on how to minimise the threat from bird flu.

A team of French and German experts will visit the country from February 24 to March 4 to assist Niger's response to bird flu, the French embassy said.

Full story Reuters 20 Feb 2006.

Armed men storm firm in Nigeria's delta

Around 20 armed men stormed the headquarters of a South Korean oil services company in Nigeria's lawless delta and stole more than $30,000 (17,000 pounds), police said on Sunday, in the latest attack on foreign firms. Full report Reuters 29 Jan 2006.

Nigeria rebels claim more attacks

Nigerian militants who say they have kidnapped four foreign oil workers and attacked on a Shell oil platform say they have carried out more attacks.
The group says it attacked platforms run by the Total and Agip oil firms. Both companies have denied the claims.

The increased tension in the Niger Delta region has pushed up oil prices to more than $67 (£38) a barrel.

The four foreign workers, who are said to be in good health, have been held hostage for close to a week.

In a statement, the previously unknown rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, said its ultimate aim was "to prevent Nigeria from exporting oil".

"We will attack all oil companies, including Chevron facilities," it said. "Pipelines, loading points, export tankers, tank farms, refined petroleum depots, landing strips and residences of employees of these companies can expect to be attacked."

"We know where they live, shop and where the children go to school," it added.

The group want local Ijaw people to benefit more from the region's oil wealth and are demanding the release of separatist leader Mujahid Dokubu Asari, being held on treason charges, by Friday.

Full report (BBC) 18 January, 2006.